Pablo Escobar Takes Hollywood

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/movies/30pabl.html

-As “Entourage,” television’s fictionalized Hollywood chronicle, wrapped its season last month, the agent extraordinaire Ari Gold saw his client’s dream movie about the Medellín drug cartel hammered by the audience and would-be buyers at the Cannes Film Festival.

-Born to middle-class parents in 1949, Pablo Escobar Gaviria stole and resold tombstones, then cars, before becoming an organizing force among Colombian street thugs who hit the jackpot as the country’s cocaine trade exploded in the 1970s. He bribed authorities, ordered killings and, at his peak, lived with the improbable trappings of a Charles Foster Kane: His possessions included submarines, a fleet of airliners and a vast estate, Hacienda Los Nápoles, complete with a private zoo.

-After the 1989 bombing of an airliner in which United States citizens were killed, American operatives joined Colombian authorities in their war on the cartel and its leader. Driven into hiding, Escobar played cat and mouse with police and the military until Dec. 2, 1993, when he was cornered by 500 police officers and soldiers, and shot to death. The killing led to deep mourning among many of the Colombian poor, for whom he was something of a Robin Hood, turning American dollars into food, housing and jobs.

-This example shows that media has become more globalized and continues to depict movies or televisions shows based on a county's history. Colombia's drug lord, Pablo Escobar, has become a Hollywood character.

Abandoned Animals in Colombia

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/03/30/world/americas/1247467487501/abandoned-animals-in-colombia.html

-An animal refuge in Cali, Colombia, that takes in the castoff pets of the country's drug lords

-These animals are rescued and given a chance to live

-Currently cares for about 800 animals

-Funded by private donations; founded a decade and half ago

-Many have been abused, drugged (stoned- fried the animals brain cells), and mangled (cut off limbs, blinded)

-Drug lords believe having a ferocious animal, such as a lion, shows their power and they can intimidate people.

-Animals often fed on the flesh of the militias victims

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/world/americas/31colombia.html

Colombia's Next President

-Colombians have long known Antanas Mockus for his antics, such as the time he mooned an auditorium full of rowdy students during his stint as a university president. And how he got married atop an elephant.

-He might just win the presidency in elections to succeed Alvaro Uribe, a US-backed hard-liner who was prevented from running for a third term. A first round of voting takes place May 30, with a second scheduled next month if no candidate wins 50 percent.

-As mayor of Bogota, a city of 8 million, he invested heavily in police and instituted new tactics, resulting in a dramatic drop in homicides.

-Mockus also refused to parcel out posts to supporters or meet with municipal officials and council members — men known for corruption. He raised taxes on the rich and instituted unpopular measures such as closing bars at 1 a.m. to cut down on drunken driving and violence. (It worked.)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2010/05/09/called_strange_he_may_be_next_colombian_leader/

A Look at Twitter Use

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/05/09/colombia-a-look-at-twitter-use-around-the-country/

-Over the course of two months, the community site Twitter Colombia analyzed 3 million Tweets from 20,000 users in the country, as way to take a snapshot of the use of this microblogging tool. The result was a set of statistics about the average Twitterer in Colombia

-On the average, the Colombian Twitterer is following 128 people and is followed by 176, while only 13% users have their Tweets protected. The statistics even looked at which day of the week and time of day the average Twitter used the service, Wednesday and 11:30 a.m., respectively

-The study also revealed which Colombian Twitterers had the most mentions during this time period. These popular users include Camilo Andrés García (@hyperconectado), Colombian rocker, Juanes (@juanes), Nicolás Samper (@udsnoexisten), Sebastian Yepes (@sebastianyepes), and Karem Díaz Robles (@karemvip).

Freedom House

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=251&year=2009

- Colombia's press is partially free

- A new criminal procedure code took effect on January 1, 2008, raising hopes that it would curb impunity and judicial inefficiency with respect to crimes against journalists

- Remains as one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists

-According to the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), threats to journalists and violations of press freedom diminished by 15 and 20 percent, respectively, during the year

- Most of the country’s media outlets are controlled by groups of private investors. Independent and privately owned print and broadcast media are generally free to express a variety of opinions and cover sensitive issues without restrictions. The government operates one educational and two commercial television stations, along with a national radio network

- There were few reported cases of government monitoring or censoring of the internet, which was accessed by close to 39 percent of the population in 2008. However, indigenous communities in western Colombia complained that their online media pages were blocked following confrontations with the military.

Colombia Local News Media

http://www.mondotimes.com/1/world/co

A list of newspapers, radio and television stations in Colombia by city

Media Conglomerate

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/23/colombia.magazine/index.html

"Colombia lost one of its best-known independent magazines...when the parent company of Cambio suddenly announced it was ceasing publication."

There is reason to believe that the closing was not linked to economic results but to nonconformity -- to an editorial line that denounces and criticizes the government."

This movement has all the characteristics of censorship.

Cambio had been a strong voice against the Colombian government, yet Government officials deny its closing due to the government.

"When news erupted in February that national intelligence agents had subjected journalists, politicians, judges and human rights defenders to illegal phone tapping, e-mail interception, and surveillance for much of the decade, it created a well-founded perception that the Colombian government was closely and constantly watching the press and other critics," the report said.

Which raises the question: "To what extent can a media conglomerate be independent if it has so many interests with the government?"